The No. 9/10 men’s lacrosse team suffered a disappointing 25-17 defeat against unranked Stony Brook University Saturday. The loss comes after a dominant 25-9 victory against Quinnipiac University to open the season the week before.

Dylan Molloy ’17 led the Bears with four goals in the losing effort, while Michael Panepinto ’19 and Jack Kniffin ’20 both contributed hat tricks.

The Seawolves (3-0) jumped out to an 8-0 lead after the first quarter, a deficit the Bears (1-1) could not erase despite a second half rally. The first quarter saw Stony Brook dominate possession and control the pace of play, winning seven of nine face-off opportunities in the opening frame. Bruno could only muster four shots in the first 15 minutes compared to 21 first quarter shots the week before.

Despite entering the second quarter down eight goals and off the scoreboard, Bruno rebounded, with Molloy opening the scoring for the Bears at the 13:52 mark. After the slow start, Brown cut the lead to four at the midway point, trailing 10-6.

Bruno came out of the gates strong in the second half, outscoring Stony Brook 3-1 in the first four minutes of the third to cut the lead to 11-9. But Stony Brook’s deliberate offense, marked by strong cuts through Brown defense, regained its first quarter form, as the Seawolves proceeded on an 8-2 run. At the start of the fourth, Bruno found itself in an eight-goal deficit, down 19-11.

After trailing by as many asnine goals, Bruno cut Stony Brook’s lead down to seven in the fourth quarter, which saw the teams trading goals. Each team scored six goals in the final frame.

First-year goalie Phil Goss ’20 posted seven saves on 23 shots in 37 minutes of action before being replaced by Peter Scott ’17, who recorded five saves on 14 shots on net. But despite the best efforts of Bruno’s goalkeepers, the defense could not slow down the Stony Brook attack. Cory Van Ginhoven posed problems all afternoon for the defense, powering Stony Brook forward with seven goals and an assist. Seawolf net-minder Brandon Maciejewski recorded five saves on 22 Bruno shots.

“It was a disappointing performance for sure,” said Head Coach Mike Daly. “As the head coach, the blame rests solely with me. Our team was not prepared to play at the level Stony Brook played at.”

Brown was outshot by 26 in the losing effort and could only muster a little over half the number of shots it took against Quinnipiac.

Daly pointed to an improvement in consistency as the team moves forward. “Whether we had won or lost, it is our goal to constantly be improving (in) all phases, all facets,” Daly said. “We made enough plays, we just didn’t finish those plays.”

The Bears have an opportunity to get back on track next Saturday against Rutgers in New Jersey. Bruno has two more non-conference games before Ivy League play kicks off March 18.